Sizzling singer Ho Ngoc Ha (L) and her elegant counterpart Duc Tuan (R) are at the top of the HTV Music Award’s nominee list

Ho Chi Minh City Television (HTV) has announced the nominees for its HTV Awards 2008 in three categories – music, drama and TV films.

In the music category, model-turned-singer Ho Ngoc Ha and pop icon Duc Tuan ranked first for the Best Female and Male Singer categories with 53 and 49 votes, respectively.

Model-turned-actress Thanh Hang and actor Viet Anh topped the TV series’ Best Actress and Best Actor categories with 50 and 40 votes.

But the final say will be had by the audience who will send their votes through SMS messages. The first round will last from March 8-31, when the top three artists will be chosen, and the Friendly Artist Award handed out. The second round, from March 31 to April 18, will pick the winner in every category.

“It’s not an easy job to attract and maintain the viewers’ attention with the boom in the number of television channels these days. We organize the awards to motivate the artists to serve the audience better,” said Nguyen Chi Tan, deputy director general of HTV.

Reported by Hanh